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Friday, January 17, 2014

Dyeing gDiapers

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Before we had our daughter, I did a lot of research into the types of cloth and eco diapering options that are currently available. Eventually I settled on gDiapers, as I wanted to have one kind that would work well in the many different situations we find ourself in at home, while traveling, and while she is in the care of others. I love the flexibility of the different types of inserts (the absorbent part). After about the first month, we settled into using organic pre-folds as inserts and occasionally the biodegradable inserts when on the go.

While pregnant, I kept an eye online for people selling used bundles of the covers and ended up getting her first couple sizes worth of covers for only a few dollars each - new gDiaper covers retail for as much as $25 each.

Once she was with us and growing quickly, I found my interest in spending my valuable personal time scouring the internet for deals on used covers completely absent. After a couple of attempts I found that I could get a starter pack more cheaply than I was finding the larger sizes used - the only issue: The colors.

While I like orange and green as much as the next person (perhaps more so in the case of orange), I missed the variety of colors!

Enter fabric dye!

First I used Rit Color Remover on all the covers. Several of them ended up looking as though they had been subtly tie-dyed and I left them without further color. You can see the original green and orange on the elastic band at the top of the top two in the picture above.

I then dyed two crimson and two burgundy again using Rit Dye. In both pairs of red liners the (originally) green is on the left. For both the color remover and the dyes I followed the directions on the package so I won't transcribe them here.

I had intended to over-dye one of each red with a deep brown and end up with six different colors, but... well... she grew out of this size before I ever got around to it. All in all I am quite pleased with how well they turned out and have since dyed some of her next size up with similar wonderful results.